


Young and Sweet, Only Seventeen

by TheHotdagaIsTrueArt



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Birthday, Father-Son Relationship, Friendship, Gen, I dont actually know when Peter's birthday is so the timeline is a little convoluted, May Parker is a good Aunt, Mostly feel good, Peter deserves to be happy dammit, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, but there aren't spoilers, happiness, it is safe here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-01 22:18:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14530422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHotdagaIsTrueArt/pseuds/TheHotdagaIsTrueArt
Summary: It's Peter's birthday!





	Young and Sweet, Only Seventeen

**Author's Note:**

> A Wrinkle In Time is by Madeleine L'Engle.  
> Title is from Dancing Queen by ABBA for no other reason than that the song has been stuck in my head the whole time I wrote this fic.  
> I don't know when Peter's actual birthday is supposed to be, so just pretend it's set whenever that is.

Peter’s birthday was coming up, but he wasn’t too preoccupied with it. His birthdays before his 14th had been exciting and fun, his Aunt and Uncle had gone all out to make his birthdays extra special. Peter had never had too many friends, so usually his Aunt and Uncle took him and a friend somewhere cool. Once they had gone to the beach, another time they went to a theme park. His favorite gift had been when May and Ben took him to the Stark Expo, he had almost died, but it was the coolest thing in the world.

Ben had died a week before his 14th birthday. It put a damper on the mood to say the least. He didn’t even celebrate turning 14 past May putting a candle in a cupcake. It hadn’t seemed right without Ben to make corny jokes or tell Peter what a wonderful young man he was becoming. His 15th and 16th birthdays had been celebrated similarly, but May also ordered their favorite takeout. Peter didn’t mind the simplicity, it still felt wrong not to have Ben there, and his birthdays still lacked a certain special feeling they used to have. 

He was turning 17 that Friday, and for most people that was a big deal (for most people any birthday was a big deal), it was the last birthday before becoming an adult, but it wasn’t all that exciting for Peter. People seemed to see turning 17 as a sign of becoming more mature, like ‘Wow, you’re almost an adult’, but he felt like he had passed that when he fought an intergalactic war. He assumed his plans would be the same as last year, a small cake split with May and a dinner in. Maybe they would rent a movie. He didn’t need anything extraordinary. 

That evening after his nightly patrol, Peter headed into the kitchen to talk to May. She was making grilled cheese, one of the few things she could make well, and smiled when she saw him.

“I hope you’re hungry!” May gave him a once-over, checking for any injuries. “How’d it go today, anything big?” 

“I’m always hungry,” Peter replied, pulling a blue Powerade out of the fridge. “Uh, no, today was pretty chill, I helped a kid find her mom, um, I caught a dog that got off leash, dachshunds can run fast! Nothing serious happened.” 

May passed Peter a plate with three grilled cheese sandwiches on it, and took a plate with one for herself. After finding out that Peter was Spider-Man, she had found out about his enhanced metabolism, and had been very upset that Peter hadn’t told her before because she hadn’t been giving him enough to eat. Peter had been touched that she had been so worried about him getting enough to eat. May had said that it was her job to make sure Peter was healthy. 

They sat down at the table. Peter was done with one of the sandwiches before May spoke again. “So I have some bad news, sweetie,” She said, eyebrows drawn together. 

Peter looked up, May didn’t usually call him sweetie unless she thought he was or was going to be disappointed. “Yeah?” He asked, trying to sound casual. 

“I know it’s your birthday on Friday, but I had to take a double shift. Annie has serious food poisoning and isn’t going to be able to come in, and no one else can cover for her.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, Peter.” 

“Oh, uh, that’s fine Aunt May. We can do something on Saturday.” He tried not to sound too disappointed. He knew he didn’t make a big deal over his birthday, but it was nice to have May there. “Could I invite Ned and M.J. over?”

His Aunt looked uncertain. “I mean, I don’t see why not, but…” She trailed off.

“But what?” Peter asked, May liked Ned and M.J., he didn’t understand why she didn’t seem to want them over.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” She dismissed, then smiled. “How was school today?”

They finished dinner and Peter helped clean up, then went to bed. He tried not to be unhappy that May wouldn’t be around on his birthday. It was just a day, they could celebrate later. It wasn’t a big deal. He had a hard time falling asleep that night. 

The next day he sat down by Ned and M.J. in the lunchroom. M.J. had become very close to Ned and Peter in the last year, and had figured out that Peter was Spider-Man only a week after becoming captain of the Decathlon Team. It was nice to have M.J. around, she always had really interesting things to say. Near the end of the lunch period, M.J. put her book down to look at him. 

“So?” She asked. 

“It’s a good book,” He was used to this now. M.J. would lend him a book and every day at lunch want to know what he thought so far. This week it was A Wrinkle In Time because M.J. and Ned both had been appalled to find out that Peter hadn’t read it yet. “I’m already halfway through, and Meg is totally my favorite character.”

M.J. nodded, finding his answer to be satisfactory.

“So guys,” Peter began, doing his best to sound nonchalant. “My birthday is tomorrow and I was wondering if you guys wanted to come over? We could get take out or something? Watch a movie?”

Ned and M.J. glanced at each other, and Peter felt his heart sink. “Well, um, I have a thing for coding club, y’know…” Ned said, not meeting Peter’s eyes. Peter looked at M.J. with very little hope.

“Book club.” Was her response. “Sorry, Peter.”

“It’s cool.” He said, trying to mean it. “We can hang out another day.”

“Peter, I’m really sorry…” Ned said, and he looked like he meant it.

“Don’t worry about it, Ned, it’s really not a big deal,” Peter reassured. The bell rang, and relief filled him. “I gotta get to class, see you guys later.” 

Ned and M.J. watched him leave with matching looks of concern on their faces. 

Peter couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed as he thought about everything that night. May never took extra shifts on his birthday, even when he turned 15 and made it clear he didn’t really care. Ned was always there. Even when he turned 14 right after Ben’s death, Ned had shown up and given him a Star Wars DS game and a half squished cupcake (the same one that May found a candle for so Peter could follow at least one tradition). But this year he had a “thing for coding club”. What did that even mean? And M.J. had Book Club, which Peter knew met on Tuesdays, not Fridays, so it was pretty clear that his friends were avoiding him. Peter sighed and climbed into bed. If he kept thinking about this he would end up more upset than he already was. He would just go to sleep. He would feel better in the morning.

Peter woke up on his birthday to the same alarm he heard every morning. He got out of bed feeling decidedly unexcited and pulled on jeans and one of his many graphic t-shirts. This one proclaimed “01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011 … If you can read that, you are too.” He grabbed his backpack from the floor and headed out to the kitchen.

“Hey, Peter!” May pulled him into a tight hug. “How are you feeling? Older?”

Peter laughed. “I don’t know how I would feel older, I just feel like me.”

“Well you look more mature,” She kissed his forehead. “I’m so proud of you Peter, you’re growing up so fast!”

“May!” Peter blushed and ducked away. “I smell pancakes,”

“Oh, yes!” May grabbed a takeaway box and handed it to Peter. “I got you pancakes from Lucy’s Cafe down the street, I know you love them!”

“Thank you so much, Aunt May, I should probably head out now, I don’t want to be late.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder.

“Have a good day! I love you, Peter!” She hugged him, then handed him a to-go cup as well. “Hot chocolate. Make sure you eat everything!”

“I will! Love you, too! Bye!” He called as he left the apartment.

He got to school with enough time to sit at one of the benches and eat the (delicious) pancakes, then meet up with Ned and M.J. He found them by Ned’s locker. They exchanged greetings, and Peter tried not to be too disappointed when neither of them wished him a happy birthday. At lunch, Flash decided to take some time for some extra special ridiculing, because apparently he remembered that it was Peter’s birthday, then to top it all off, knocked Peter’s lunch tray out of his hands before finally leaving, calling behind him “Happy birthday, Penis Parker!” much to the amusement of Peter’s classmates.

Peter cleaned up the mess as best he could, all while trying to ignore the embarrassment that made his stomach clench up. He walked straight past his normal table with Ned and M.J., and sat outside instead, trying to let go of the anger and embarrassment that made his hands clench. His friends didn’t come find him, and for once, Peter was glad. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. Incoming call Tony Stark. Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise, Tony rarely called him during school. His stomach sank, maybe something bad happened. 

He swallowed and picked up. “Hey, Mr. Stark.”

“Hey kid,” Tony’s voice was casual, and Peter let out a sigh of relief. “Are you busy after school? I’ve got a project I’m working on that I think you could help me with.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, no, I’m not busy,” Peter smiled, at least he could spend time with Mr. Stark on his birthday.

“Great. Happy will get you after school, I’ll see you soon.” 

“Oh, Mr. Stark,” Peter started, then stopped. He was going to tell Tony that it was his birthday, but that seemed too much like begging for attention. “Uh, nevermind.”

Tony paused. “Alright, kid. See you later.” The call disconnected. 

Peter smiled, it was always nice to spend time with Tony, and even if it wasn’t for his birthday, it still made the day seem more special. He went up to the Compound at least every other week for at least a few hours to train and have Tony look over his suit, but the fact that his mentor had specifically requested that Peter help with a project he was working on filled Peter with happiness. He sent off a quick text to May to let her know where he would be after school, and headed to his next class. 

He usually had his last class with Ned and M.J., but neither of them were there. He frowned, that was unlike them. He texted Ned to ask if he was okay, and he replied with “Yeah, M.J.’s mom needed her to come home right away & I said I’d take her home bc I’m ahead in english anyways”. That seemed odd. Ned could drive, but Peter didn’t think he had driven to school that day. He shrugged it off. They were both fine, that’s all that mattered. Even if they were acting weird around him, at least he knew they were both okay.

After school, he took off at a run, and was the first one out of the front doors. He spotted Happy’s car and jogged towards it, jumping in the backseat. 

“Hey Happy!” Peter said, buckling in. “What’s up?”

“Not much, kid, how was school?” Happy replied.

The car ride was nice, they chatted a little, Happy told Peter about how things were going with all the Avengers under the same roof again (kinda stressful, with some hilarious situations). Peter told Happy that he was reading A Wrinkle In Time which turned out to be a book Happy enjoyed, too, so they talked about that for a while. Peter and Happy were getting along much better than at first. After the whole Homecoming deal, Happy actually decided to get to know Peter instead of assuming the worst, and found that Peter was a nice kid, if a little bit of a chatterbox. Peter was just glad Happy seemed to like talking to him. When the conversation wound down, Peter pulled his book out again and continued reading.

They arrived at the Compound and Happy let Peter out in front of the main doors before driving off to park the car. Peter headed inside, and was greeted by FRIDAY. 

“Hey FRIDAY!” He replied. “Is Mr. Stark in his workshop?”

“No, Mr. Stark is currently in the main common room on the living floors. Would you like me to inform him that you have arrived?” She asked.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” He headed into the elevator, knowing that Tony wouldn’t mind if he met up with him there. He got to the floor he wanted, and stepped out of the elevator into a dark room. He frowned. The main room was never dark, usually at least one of the Avengers was there, and if not, then FRIDAY turned the lights on before anyone got there. His Spidey-Sense wasn’t warning him of anything, which meant he was in no danger. He stepped into the room, slowly, still uncertain. 

The lights came on. “SURPRISE!” Peter jumped slightly, then grinned widely, looking around. It seemed like everyone was there. Aunt May, Ned, M.J., Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy (Peter wondered how Happy got up there before he did), Bruce, Thor, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Wanda, Vision, and even Natasha were all there. 

The room was decorated with blue and red streamers and balloons, the counter was covered in food, including a very large triple layer cake, that was leaning slightly to one side and looked like two disagreeing people had decorated it. Peter guessed it was Bucky and Tony’s work, seeing that both men had not been able to completely wash the food dye off of their hands. The whole place looked awesome, it was the perfect party. Peter was speechless, all he could do was grin like an idiot. 

“Dang guys, looks like we broke him,” Sam was the first to speak, and it snapped Peter out of his speechlessness. 

“This… is the coolest party ever!” He exclaimed, taking a few steps forwards so he was closer to everyone. “How did you… when did you guys…”

Tony stepped forward and put an arm around him. “Last week, May mentioned that your birthday was coming up and she wanted to surprise you, I suggested we do it here.”

May came to stand beside the two of them. “Our plans just kept getting bigger and bigger, and now here we are!” She gestured to the room around them. “I hope it’s okay. I know you haven’t been big on birthdays lately, and-”

Peter cut her off. “Aunt May, this is way more than okay, this is amazing!” 

“Good,” Tony said, smiling at Peter’s excitement. “Let’s have a party, then.” 

The party was amazing, Peter got to introduce Ned and M.J. to all of the Avengers. Ned nearly fainted, and M.J. got into a very long discussion with Thor about space politics. Peter got to talk to everyone there, and they were all very excited to wish Peter a happy birthday. Thor patted him on the back so hard that Peter nearly face planted, then tried to offer Peter a beer, to which about five different adults yelled “No!”, much to Thor’s confusion. 

“It is a celebration, is it not?” He asked, looking around for an explanation. Bruce pulled him away to explain what a legal drinking age was. 

Later, Peter managed to catch up with M.J. and Ned, to apologize for brushing them off earlier.

“No, I’m sorry!” Ned cried, pulling Peter into a hug. “It was so hard to pretend that it wasn’t your birthday, but I knew that if I said anything, I would give away the surprise!”

“He’s been dying about this all week,” M.J. added. “I had to text you for him today because he couldn’t handle lying to you.”

Peter laughed. “You guys are amazing friends, seriously.”

“Peter,” Tony called, walking up to the trio. “Could I pull you away from the festivities for a minute?” 

“Sure thing, Mr. Stark!” Peter waved to his friends and followed Tony out onto a balcony overlooking the grounds. “Thanks for this awesome party, Mr. Stark,” He smiled up at his mentor. “It really means a lot to me that you did all this.”

“Anything for you, kid,” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair. “I’m a little offended you didn’t tell me that it’s your birthday, and you didn’t tell me last year, I had to find out from May.”

“It didn’t seem that important,” Peter replied, leaning against the balcony railing.

“I think it’s pretty important. I mean, you only turn 17 once.” Tony replied, glancing over at him. 

“My birthdays haven’t seemed that important since Ben died. He, um, he died a week before my 14th birthday, and ever since it hasn’t felt right to be celebrating it without him. He’d always been there, you know?” Peter frowned and bit his lip.

Tony moved closer to Peter and put an arm around him, but stayed quiet, letting Peter decide if he wanted to continue.

“This is the first birthday I’ve had since then that I had like… a father figure at,” Peter avoided looking at Tony, he wasn’t sure if Tony knew he saw him that way. “It feels right in a way it hasn’t in years.”

“A father figure, huh?” Tony smiled. “I mean, I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with Happy, but I didn’t quite think he was a father figure.” 

“No, Mr. Stark,” Peter turned to look up at him. “You.”

Tony cleared his throat, he was suddenly feeling very choked up. “Yeah, kiddo, I know.” He blinked a couple of times, his eyes were suddenly very watery, probably allergies or something. “What brought this on?”

“Well, I’ve been reading A Wrinkle In Time and there’s a lot of stuff about how much Meg misses her dad, and how she would travel across the universe to save him, and I was thinking, you know, I’d do that for Mr. Stark, and then I was like, ‘oh man, Mr. Stark is like a father figure to me’, and now I’ve said ‘father figure’ too much, and I’m worried it’s kind of weird” He said it all in a rush. 

Tony a moment to process what Peter had said, but once he did he pulled Peter into a hug. Peter seemed surprised, but hugged him back. After he pulled away, he wiped his eyes and smiled at Peter. 

“Peter, I have something for you. It’s not your birthday present exactly, but I thought this was a good time to give it to you,” He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Peter. “You can open it.”

Peter pulled the envelope open and read over the documents inside, then reread them, then looked up at Tony, disbelief in his eyes. “Tony…”

“I finally got you to call me Tony!” Tony grinned. 

“This is… I mean… I can’t…” Peter was at a loss for words.

“Yes, you can. Peter, I can’t think of anyone else who would be a better heir to Stark Industries. You’re good, Peter, better than I am, better than any of the Avengers. You’ve worked with me for almost two years and you know more about the world than most 17-year-olds. I trust you, Peter, I would trust you to run the company today, but that’s not what this means. This means that one day when you’re out of college and an adult, when you are ready, you will take over Stark Industries from me. And before that, we’ll work together so you know how to do things right. And when I die, you’ll get everything tied to the Stark name. I’m not planning to have a kid, Peter.” He put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “You’re my kid, and you will do great when this place is yours.”

A tear slid down Peter’s cheek. He swiped at it and sniffled. “Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

“And I just had you calling me Tony!” Tony teased.

Peter let out a watery laugh, and hugged him tightly. “I mean it,” He mumbled against Tony’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you kid.” They both pulled out of the hug. “Now let’s go sing happy birthday so we can get to that cake. I hate to admit it, but Barnes is quite the baker.” 

Peter laughed and followed Tony back inside. He knew his life would never be the same after he met Tony, and he wouldn’t change it for the universe. All the good and all the bad, it had been worth it. He had a much bigger family than he did 3 years ago, and it was perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Peter's shirt translates to "Geek", I own that shirt and think it's hilarious.  
> So I wrote this because today is my birthday and I was pretty dang excited about it, so I put all my feelings into a fic! I hope you enjoyed it!  
> If you think it is unrealistic that Peter hadn't read A Wrinkle In Time yet, I'll have you know that I didn't read it until I was 16, so that part is based on a true story.  
> Let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading!


End file.
